The Great Wish - Chapter 9.2

Vol.2 Chapter 9 Part 2 

Martin knocked and waited a moment before opening the door. 

"Did you call for me?" 

Kuhn, who had been lost in thought at his desk as he sifted through some documents, lifted his head. 

"What about Levan?" 

"He will be here soon." 

"We'll talk when Levan arrives. Come and sit down." 

"Yes, sir." 

Martin sat down on the sofa. He comfortably leaned back and put one leg on top of the other. Then he switched legs and put the other one on top. Unable to find a comfortable position, Martin glanced at Kuhn. 

"Kuhn." 

"Hm?" 

"Why do you seem so out of it these days?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Were you dumped?" 

 The pen that had been gliding over a document suddenly stopped. Martin had only been joking, but seeing as how Kuhn didn't reply, his eyes widened. There was another knock at the door, and Levan entered the room. Having lost his chance ask any further questions, Martin kept his mouth shut. 

"Did you ask for me, Kuhn?" 

"I called you both in here because I need your opinions on something." 

Levan walked over to Martin's side and sat down. They both greeted each other with their eyes. Kuhn handed each of them a bundle of documents. 

"All the important details should be in here. Take a look and tell me what you think." 

A few moments later, Levan spoke up first. 

"Internal organs preserved in salt? Is this person insanely fascinated by black magic? Or is this person a serial killer?" 

"Don't think about the motive. What do you think this person is trying to do?" 

"If they're not a cannibal, I'd say it's taxidermy." 

Martin nodded his head and spoke. 

"There is a country in the continent that practices unusual funeral traditions. They take measures to keep a corpse from decomposing. This is similar to that method." 

Levan listened carefully. 

"The internal organs decompose quickly. If they are not going to be handled immediately, they are often pickled in salt." 

"I see. As I thought..." 

Kuhn crossed his arms and became lost in thought. 

"The one who was carrying this out was caught by our surveillance. They came from the ducal house of Rimone." 

Martin and Levan sifted through the supplemental material Kuhn had given them. A few moments later, the two of them exchanged a look. 

"So the duke has died." 

Levan, who was known to be a genius, began to analyze the possibilities of what this meant. 

Martin murmured in shock. 

"They have quite an imagination. Taxidermy? In the Empire? And they're a ducal house, no less." 

Kuhn had been deep in thought as soon as he had received this information. He couldn't be completely certain. The ducal house wouldn't take a big hit just from their attempts to prevent a body's decomposition. However, it would be a waste to just blow over this piece of information. 

"Think of a way to use this information." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Understood." 

 A thought suddenly popped into Martin's head. He quickly turned to Levan and asked a question. 

"Hey, you. I heard something strange. Why are the officials at City Hall calling you Deputy Director Kali?" 

"Well, it just happened that way." 

"Why are you Kali? Russ and I already told you a long time ago that we'd use that name." 

Kali came from the mercenary group Kaligo. Martin and Russ went around claiming that they'd be using that name as their surname from now on. 

Martin glared at the shameless man who had stolen his name. Russ didn't know about this yet. If he had known, he would have thrown a fit. 

Levan ignored Martin and spoke to Kuhn. 

"Kuhn, I know this is late, but I think I need to let you know. I ended up finding work at the Palace. We might end up crossing paths inside the Palace, so please keep that in mind." 

"The Palace? How?" 

Levan sighed. 

"I don't even understand it myself. I ended up becoming the Silver King's aide. Who knew she'd offer that position to me?" 

Kuhn, who had been in the middle of sorting out the documents as he got up from his seat, froze. His eyes widened and shook. 

"The Silver King?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Since when?" 

"It's been about a month." 

When Kuhn began to press this issue, Levan realized something was off and examined Kuhn's expression. 

"The Silver King specifically called me and told me to do it, so I was in no position to refuse. If I kept insisting that I didn't want it, I felt that things would become troublesome. And I also think I can be of help to you work, Kuhn. For example, maybe I can get you some information regarding the Silver King..." 

"Who..." 

Kuhn spoke in a gloomy voice. 

"Who asked you to spy on her?" 

Levan shut his mouth. He felt that he'd struck a nerve. 

"Quit immediately." 

"But that's..." 

"Levan." 

"...Yes, sir?" 

"I didn't ask for your opinion. This is an order." 

"Yes, Kuhn." 

"I'll give you three days. Get it done within that time." 

"Yes, I understand." 

Kuhn's mood had taken a nosedive. Martin and Levan, afraid that they'd set off Kuhn even further, quietly exited the room. 

Kuhn walked back to his desk. He threw down the documents, causing a snap to ring in the air. He swept a hand across his face as he let out a deep sigh. 

"She'll completely misunderstand." 

It was the perfect storm. Once the Princess found out about Levan's identity, she'd think he had planted a spy in her midst. There was no doubt about it. 

And he didn't have an excuse to give her. There were too many things he couldn't tell her. Why was everything twisting into such a mess? It all seemed hopeless. 

* * * 

Sienna glared at the gray-haired man. 

"What's the reason for this?" 

Levan held back and didn't meet the Princess's eyes. Instead, he kept them lowered. He was turning into an irresponsible jerk, and he felt like he was in hell. 

"As I informed you before, I wasn't planning on keeping an administrative position for too long." 

"Yes, you did say that. That's why I told you to stay for only a year. And you definitely agreed to it." 

"Yes, but Your Highness... Something came up, and I don't think I'll be able to..." 

"What came up that won't allow you to keep this position?" 

"...I'm sorry." 

"It's only been a little over a month. Were you planning on being this irresponsible when you agreed to be my aide? Were you cheating me?" 

Even if Levan opened his mouth, he had nothing to say. Accepting the Silver King's offer on a whim was his first mistake. 

"I have no reason to keep someone here by force." 

Sienna spoke coldly to Levan, who didn't say one word to excuse himself. Although she was acting cold on the outside, she was boiling on the inside. 

Only a few weeks had passed since she had given her report to the Emperor. It wasn't a good look for things to go awry so soon. The greater problem was that she had taken a liking to Levan. Although she had chosen him in such a shocking fashion, he was an extremely competent aide. 

Levan was in charge of her schedule. Although it was a simple task, it was very important work. Because of his good memory, he was able to remember her schedule for the next ten days. He took care of changed appointments and delayed meetings very seamlessly. She was actually thinking about giving him more duties and putting him in charge of more territories. 

"However, I'll need some time to find your replacement. You must give me that. You're not actually telling me that you plan on quitting immediately, are you?" 

Having worked for her for a little over a month, Levan had come to know the Silver King's personality very well. He was someone who could understand a person's inner thoughts in a short amount of time. He knew that she usually didn't show her true emotions very often. And he was afraid of the consequences that would come from angering such a person. This was because he didn't know what to expect. 

"How much time will you need?" 

"At least a month." 

"...Understood, Your Highness." 

"You may leave for the day." 

"Yes. I'm sorry, Your Highness." 

After closing the door to the office, Levan let out a sigh. It was a pity that things had ended like this. Although he had first thought of this position as a way for him to freely enter and leave the Palace, he was actually quite glad that its end had been postponed. 

While he had taken the national exam because he had wanted to see with his own eyes how the administrative system of the Empire functioned, he was also quite excited to see what happened outside of it as well. 

Also, the Silver King was unexpectedly a good boss. She was completely different from the royalty Levan had encountered in other parts of the continent. She was not a like an immature child who had not experienced the things of this world. 

To be completely honest, Levan quite liked the Silver King's rational personality. 

'I'm not sure if I can convince Kuhn, though." 

Would Kuhn understand if Levan told him that he had to continue working as the Silver King's aide for another month? He wanted to choose the path that didn't put the Silver King in a tough position. He believed it was only the proper thing to do since the Silver King had respected him enough to take him as her aide even though he wasn't a noble or even a citizen of the Empire. 

However, for the members of the Raad family, Kuhn's orders were absolute.